This Day in Track & Field–July 28, Jim Fuchs sets Shot Put WR (1949), Sandor Iharos sets 1500m WR (1955), Kate Schmidt sets Javelin AR (1972), by Walt Murphy News and Results Services , photo by Walt Murphy News and Results Services

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This Day in Track & Field–July  28

1949–American Jim Fuchs set the first of his four World Records in the Shot Put with his toss of  58-4  3/8 (17.79) in Oslo. Hall-of-Famer Fuchs was the bronze medalist at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

Obituary (free sign-up required): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/sports/18fuchs.html

HOF Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/jim-fuchs

WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_shot_put_world_record_progression

1955–Hungary’s Sándor Iharos ran 3:40.8 in Helsinki to set a World Record for 1500-meters. This was the third of six individual World Records that Iharos, coached by the legendary Mihály Iglói, would set in 1955. He would also anchor Hungary to a World Record in the 4×1500 relay (9-29/15:14.8).

WR Progression(1500): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500_metres_world_record_progression

Iharos’ WRs in 1955

5-14         7:55.6    3000m

5-30         8:33.4    2-miles

7-28         3:40.8    1500m

9-10         13:50.8  5000m

10-23       13:14.2  3-miles

10-23       13:40.6  5000m

1958(27/28)–During the early days of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the threat (real or imagined) of a nuclear war led to schoolchildren throughout the U.S.  hiding beneath their desks (as if that would help), while others were marching towards (or building their own) fall-out shelters during periodic air-raid drills.

But all of that fear was set aside as the two Super Powers met in Moscow in what was the first in a series of memorable dual meets between the world’s two greatest track and field teams.

The individual star of the meet was Rafer Johnson, who regained the World Record in the Decathlon by scoring a phenomenal 8,302 points (7783-current tables). Johnson bettered the previous mark of 8,014 by almost 300 points, and the holder of that mark, Soviet Vasily Kuznetsov, finished a distant 2nd to Johnson here with 7,865 points. And Johnson drew the enthusiastic admiration of an appreciative Russian crowd. (75,000 on the first day, only 30,000 the next–a workday). Johnson was selected as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year in 1958.

A second World Record was set in the Men’s Triple Jump by Soviet Oleg Ryakhovskiy, who won with a mark of  54-5  ¼ (16.59).

American Glenn Davis won the flat 400 (45.6) and the 400-meter hurdles (50.4) and anchored the winning 4×400 relay (3:07.0).

American Records were set by. Earlene Brown in the Shot Put (54-3  1/8 [16.54m]) and Lillian Green, who ran a modest 2:19.4 in the 800-meters.

SI Vault(Johnson): https://vault.si.com/vault/1959/01/05/rafer-johnson

Rafer Johnson: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/rafer-johnson

Glenn Davis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Davis_(athlete)

Earlene Brown: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/earlene-brown

Cold War: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war

Cold War Museum: http://www.coldwar.org/

WR Progressions

Decathlon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_world_record_progression

Triple Jump http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_jump_world_record_progression

1972—Kate “The Great” Schmidt became the first American woman to throw the Javelin farther than 200-feet and set the first of her ten American Records with a toss of 200-6 (61.12) in Valencia, California.

Hall of Fame Bio(1994): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/kate-the-great-schmidt

1976–Sweden’s Anders Gärderud won the gold medal in the Steeplechase at the Montreal Olympics and his winning time of 8:08.02 broke his own World Record of 8:09.8. East Germany’s Frank Baumgartl was closing on  Gärderud when he hit the final hurdle and fell heavily to the ground. He got up to salvage the bronze medal (8:10.36) as Poland’s Bronislaw Malinowski finished 2nd in 8:09.11.

    The U.S. had won the 110-hurdles at the nine previous Olympics (and 15 of 17 overall), but not this time, with France’s Guy Drut (13.30), the silver medalist in 1972,  edging Cuba’s Alejandro Casañas (13.33) for the gold medal. 33-year old Willie Davenport (13.39), the 1968 Olympic champion, came back from a severe knee injury in 1975 to win the bronze. This was the first Olympics that the U.S. hadn’t won at least a silver medal!

    It was a German sweep in the Women’s 200-meters, with the East’s surprising Bärbel Eckert (22.37OR) edging the West’s Annegret Richter (22.39) for the gold medal, and the East’s Renate Stecher (22.64) winning the bronze.

The Soviet Union’s Yuriy Sedykh won the first of his two Olympic titles in the Hammer Throw with an Olympic Record toss of 254-4 (77.52). It was a Soviet sweep, with Aleksey Spiridonov (249-06 [76.06]) and Anatoly Bondarchuk (247-8 [75.48]), the defending champion, winning silver and bronze. Finishing 5^th was Germany’s Walter Schmidt (245-2 [74.72]), the World Record holder. Sedykh would win a 2^nd Olympic gold four years later in Moscow.

East Germany’s Rosemarie Ackermann set an Olympic Record of 6-4 (1.93) to win the gold medal in the Women’s High Jump, with the other medals going to Italy’s Sara Simeoni and Bulgaria’s Yordanka Blagoyeva, both of whom cleared 6-3  ¼ (1.91). Simeoni would win gold in 1980 and another silver in 1984. Ackermann, the World Record holder at the time, is the last straddler, male or female, to win an OG title in the event (from Olympedia).

Francie Larrieu finished 6th in her heat of the Women’s 1500 with an American Record of 4:07.21 (she was eliminated in the semi-final round).

In the first semi-final of the Women’s 400-meters, 19-year old Sheila Ingram ran 50.90 to set American and U.S. High School Records. She didn’t have long to enjoy her AR status, since U.S. teammate Rosalyn Bryant won the 2nd semi-final in 50.62!.

Video(Steeple): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMqM5ghPU0c

Video(110h, HT, Steeple): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZyPGrL8Xi0

WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeplechase_(athletics)

Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1976_Summer_Olympics

Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/19/sports/ATH

1980–East Germany’s Marita Koch set an Olympic Record of 48.88 while beating Jarmila Kratochvílová (49.46) in the Women’s 400-meters at the Moscow Olympics. Finishing 3^rd was East Germany’s Christina Latham (49.66).

Italy’s Pietro Mennea (20.19) won the Men’s 200 over Great Britain’s Alan Wells (20.21), who had earlier won the 100-meters. The bronze medal went to Jamaica’s Donald Quarrie (20.29), the defending Olympic champion.

Winner of the Men’s Discus was the Soviet Union’s Viktor Rashchupkin (218-8 [66.64]). Finishing 2^nd & 3^rd were Czech Imrich Bugár (217-9 [66.38] and Cuba’s Luis Delís (217-7 [66.32]). 4^th was East Germany’s Wolfgang Schmidt (215-4 [65.64]), the World Record holder, who was battling a leg injury.

Among the missing due to the boycott was Mac Wilkins, who would wind up ranked #1 in the world this year by Track & Field News. 43-year old Al Oerter, who had thrown a lifetime best of 227-11 (69.46?) earlier in the year, was only 4^th at the U.S. Trials, but few would doubt that he might have made it to his 5^th Olympics if he knew the U.S. team was actually going to compete in Moscow!

East Germany’s Lutz Dombrowski won the Men’s Long Jump with a leap of 28-1/4 (8.54). This was the first true 28-footer in history, since Bob Beamon had bypassed that barrier when he jumped his incredible 29-2  ½ (8.90) at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Fellow East German Frank Paschek (26-11  ¼ [8.21]) won the silver medal, and the bronze went to the Soviet Union’s Valery Podluzhny (26-10 [8.18]). Among the missing due to the boycott were Americans Carl Lewis and Larry Myricks, both potential medalists.

The Soviet Union’s Vera Komisova won the 100-meter hurdles in 12.56 (Olympic Record). Silver & bronze went to East Germany’s Johanna Klier (12.63) and Poland’s Lucyna Langer (12.65). This was one of the few events not impacted by the boycott, since all 10 World Rankers at the end of the year were all from Eastern-bloc countries.

Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1980_Summer_Olympics

Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/20/sports/ATH

W400: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbANjuOexI

M200: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77KZ66HIh0A

1984–The Opening Ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles featured the Rocket Man, 84 pianos playing Rhapsody in Blue, Gina Hemphill (Jesse Owens’ granddaughter), Rafer Johnson (who lit the torch) and much more.

Hammer thrower Ed Burke carried the American flag, while carrying the Olympic flag were Parry O’Brien, Bruce Jenner, Wyomia Tyus, Al Oerter, Mack Robinson (Jackie’s brother), Billy Mills, Bill Thorpe, the grandson of Jim Thorpe, and swimmer John Naber.

Rumor has it that Jenner was ready to step in at the last minute for Johnson, who was concerned that cramps would prevent him from making his way up the steps of the Coliseum to light the torch! (From Rich Perelman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbbVk3AGVhE

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=1984+opening+ceremony+video&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Lighting the Torch

https://vault.si.com/vault/1984/08/20/the-legacy-of-these-games

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/27/sports/the-olympics-los-angeles-84-lighter-of-flame-remains-a-mystery.html

1996–Charles Austin set an Olympic Record of 7-10 (2.39) while winning the gold medal in the Men’s High Jump at the Atlanta Olympics. Austin, who set the current American Record of 7-10  ½ (2.40) in 1991, was inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame in 2012.

Austin trailed Poland’s Artur Partyka, the bronze medalist in 1992, after missing twice at 7-9  ¼ (2.37), then passed his final attempt at that height. With the bar now at 7-10 (2.39), Austin, knowing that a miss would relegate him to a 2^nd-place finish, cleared cleanly, much to the delight of the partisan Atlanta crowd. After missing his first attempt at 7-10, Partyka missed twice more at 7-10  ¾ (2.41), giving Austin the gold medal, the first by an American in this event since Dick Fosbury won in 1968. Winning the bronze was Great Britain’s Steve Smith (7-8  ½ [2.35])

Hungary’s Balázs Kiss, a USC grad who had won his 4th straight NCAA title in June, won the gold medal in the Hammer Throw

(266-6 [81.24]). American Lance Deal finished a close 2nd to win the silver medal with a throw of 266-2 (81.12). 3^rd was Ukraine’s Oleksandr Krykun (262-6 [80.02]) Kiss still holds the Collegiate Record of 268-10 (81.94).

In deference to the mid-day heat in Atlanta, the Women’s Marathon started at 7:05am and was won by Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba in 2:26:05. 2^nd & 3^rd were Russia’s Valentina Yegorova (2:28:05) and Japan’s Yuko Arimori (2:28:39).

Syria’s Ghadda Shouaa, the 1995 World Champion, won the Heptathlon with a score of 6,780 points. 2^nd was Belarus’s Natasha Sazanovich (6563), and 3^rd was Great Britain’s Denise Lewis (6489). Jackie Joyner-Kersee had withdrawn the previous day after injuring herself in the 100-meter hurdles.

China’s Wang Junxia won the Women’s 5000 in 14:59.88(OR), with Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan, the 1995 World Champion, dropping out due to a stomach ailment. Winning silver & bronze were Kenya’s Pauline Konga (15:03.49) and Italy’s Roberta Brunet (15:07.52). 9^th & 10^th were Americans Lynn Jennings (15:17.50) and Amy Rudolph (15:19.77).

Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics

Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/24/sports/ATH

Men’s HJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-yrG0deqB8

HOF Bio(Austin): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/charles-austin

Video(Austin): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsol2AMIaPQ

http://www.charlesaustin.net/